We have wanted to make the leap to a digital board at church for a long time, but we haven’t found a board that had everything we needed and was easy to use.  I think we have finally found one that meets our needs and is inexpensive.   This is definitely on our wish list right now.  The PreSonus StudioLive is a 16 channel, digital mixer with Firewire recording capabilities.  It would be perfect for smaller churches who want to have a nice live mixer, but also have the ability to do multi-track recording of their services.

For praise bands, this is awesome.  You can record your practice onto a computer through the firewire interface, then go back to the board and mix the sound just like you want it using your actual practice.  You can save your setup so that on Sunday morning, it’s as simple as hitting load to dial in your sound.  If you have ever wanted to do a live worship CD, then this is a great way to easily record the band. The board offers all the great benefits of a digital board, including EQ, compressors, limiters, and gating on all channels.  PreSonus has a blog for the StudioLive with great instructional videos that really highlight some of the advanced features.  If you need more than 16 channels, they offer the ability to join up to four mixers together.  This means that you can physically bolt the boards together and have the board function as a 32, 48, or even 64 channel mixer.

The best thing about this board is price.  You can find the board for purchase for under $2000 at Sweetwater or Northern Sound and Light.  I get excited when I see a product with high-end features for a price that puts it in reach of new & smaller churches.  The best way to understand how it works is to get on the blog or check out the many videos on YouTube about the StudioLive.  Now if only someone would get excited enough about this board to buy two for our church

Last year, I shared about a new Kodak Zi6 pocketcam that I was using as my main camcorder.  I have been extremely pleased with the camcorder and we have used it a lot over the past year.   But with the cheap price and small size, pocketcams all have some drawbacks. Typically the battery life and recording times are short.  Because of the small size, it is almost impossible to keep the video stabilized while filming.  So expect some shaky footage.   But the biggest drawback for filming footage for youth and church is the audio quality.  The first generation pocketcams did not have the capability to hook in an external mic.

Fast forward to today.  All the major makers have updated their camcorders.  Flip, Creative, and Kodak all have new models out, and all the other camcorder makers are quickly jumping in this growing market. I wanted to spotlight the newest model from Kodak, the Zi8.  Here are the new features

• Record High Definition video (1080p at 30 fps with 16:9 aspect ratio)  The old Zi6 that I have only goes up to 720p resolution
• Expandable SD/SDHC card slot up to 32 GB. The new SDHC cards are getting cheaper all the time
• Rechargeable batteries and charger included.  It uses a battery pack now, but they have also added a DC port to power the unit continously.
• Vibrant 2.5-inch viewfinder; Watch footage on HDTV with included HDMI cable
• Get sharper videos and less blur thanks to built-in digital image stabilization.
• But the biggest new feature is the external mic port.  This is HUGE!  You can hook up an external mono or stereo mic to record audio from a distance.  I have not been able to use my Zi6 for many of the church videos because of the poor sound quality. With this camcorder, you can use a lapel mic or boom mic to get the sound directly from the source.

And the price … currently it is $179 on Amazon.  I have been able to simply drop the footage into iMovie from my Zi6.  If you are looking for a cheap high quality camcorder, then you may want to check this one out.   You can find out more info about using this camera over at worshipideas.com.

I have been looking for a camcorder mount for our sound booth area for a long time and I finally found one that works well for us. In many churches, a camcorder is permanently fixed in one location. Tripods take up valuable floor space, so I was looking for a mount that could be attached to our sound desk.  This mount from Davis & Sanford is cheap and I could see it working for many smaller churches needing to record their services. I found a good deal on it at B&H Photo. Since it took me a while to find it, I wanted to share it in case you need something similar.

Here’s a picture of it in action at our church.